TEEN QUESTION/PROBLEM:
my step father is hitting me and my younger sister all the time and my mom knows about it but she doesn\'t know what else he does in being abusive to me. i am so scared and i had tried to talk to my mom but she won\'t listen to me. i want to report it but afraid cause i\'m scared that the dhs will take us away from my mom. but i know if i stay and this keeps up i am either going to runaway or end up committing suicide. i\'m just at my witts end any suggestions

TEEN LINE WROTE:
Hey,
First of all, I want to say I am so glad that you reached out to us. You did a really brave thing by coming to us about this and it looks like you are in an extremely difficult situation and I want you to know that as a teenager you should not have to deal with this. You mentioned you feel like you can't tell your mom about what you're going through. Have you thought about telling an another adult you trust, a friend, or even a school counselor about what you are going through? You don't have to go through this alone. I want you to know that suicide is not the answer to your problems because it is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Also, running away can be a really unsafe way to cope with what's going on. I hope you make the right decision to remain safe. You should know that child services' goal is to keep a family together and to not keep them apart.

I urge you to call the National Hotline for Department of Child and Family Services at 1-800-422-4453 or the Department of Child Services (DCS) in Tennesse at 1-800-237-0004. They are open 24 hours a day. If you seriously don't feel comfortable calling them, please call us here at TEEN LINE at (310) 855-HOPE. We are open everyday from 6pm-10pm PST. Please call us. Thank you.